The cost of policing the anti-fracking protests at Balcombe has risen to £2.3 million and is expected to cost almost £4 million before the end of the operation.

Protesters at the West Sussex site were swamped by police officers earlier this week after criticism that Sussex Police had not done enough to curb their activities. Katy Bourne, the local Police and Crime Commissioner, yesterday revealed that the cost of policing the protests, which began at the end of July, had reached £2.3 million.

The energy company Cuadrilla temporarily halted its drilling at the site last week after the demonstrations and